Those ads have to go somewhere, and now, for a small test group of users in Australia and Thailand, ?somewhere? is the home screen on Facebook Messenger.
Product manager Eddie Zhang announced in a blog post that the social network is testing a module on the Messenger home screen that resembles the application?s existing modules for birthdays and friends who are online.
Head of product for Messenger Stan Chudnovsky offered more details in an interview with Kurt Wagner of Recode, saying the ads will be similar to carousel ads in Facebook?s News Feed, with cards from five different advertisers.
Chudnovsky told Wagner the ads will appear ?below the fold,? meaning users will have to scroll down a little before encountering them, adding that Facebook?s ad-targeting restrictions apply, so users will not be served ads based on what they are discussing in their messages.
Zhang added in his blog post that users can hide or report specific ads using the drop-down menus in their apps, and brands will not be able to message users directly until users initiate interactions with those brands. He wrote:
No one will see an ad in a conversation without clicking on an ad experience on the Messenger home screen or starting a conversation with a brand–these test ads won?t originate in your conversations. The test group of people in Thailand and Australia will start to see these ads in the coming weeks.
Businesses have long been telling us that they are very excited about the potenti...